Turning the internet off for specific users at a specific time ..

[soveryapt]

Right, so ok, this morning I've been instructed that I need to prepare the network (specifically the ICT Lab) for an examination next Thursday/Friday.

 

I need to disallow most internet access 15 minutes into the exam, but keep alive the access to our LEA OWA for emails they need to send within the exam.

 

So, HOW THE .... DO I DO THAT?!

 

We use the CLEO NED Boxes for additional filtering classes with devolved filtering policies from Lancashire County and run 2008R2 DC with Windows 7 Client Machines. We don't currently have any tutor software on the network as the SLT didn't see we needed such things (though I might beat them around the head with the exam boards information on this all and ask for some money as that would be an easy way to do things).

 

Any suggestions on how to do this would be most welcome .. failing that I might just cry!

 

I'm going to start hunting around now to see what I can find too, but I thought someone might have a golden nugget of information on how they do it that they could share .. preferably for free, but if I need to spend money then I'll just have to put on my Oliver outfit and go with my begging bowl saying "please sir, can I have some more [money]"

 

Thanks all

Andy T

[TheMinister]

Done via GPO

 

Set the computer proxy to something other than you're web filtering solution - Restart the LAB 15 minutes before the exam, remove the GPO, restart the LAB after the exam.

[Dom_]

You could install ABTutor (30 day trial) - then create a policy to block all internet access, except for a whitelist of sites

[soveryapt]

Done via GPO

 

Set the computer proxy to something other than you're web filtering solution - Restart the LAB 15 minutes before the exam, remove the GPO, restart the LAB after the exam.

 

Problem would be the access to the Outlook Web Access then .. plus they need access for the first 15minutes of the exam .. so that would mean restarting the computers during their exam ..

 

Thanks for the reply though ..

[soveryapt]

You could install ABTutor (30 day trial) - then create a policy to block all internet access, except for a whitelist of sites

 

Ah! That might just work .. then I could even evidence it and show the SLT that actually, we DO need something like that! lol ..

[Dom_]

It will work ;-), I've done it before!

 

Test it beforehand though, you could even install it onto one of the invigilators machines and they can watch everyones screens during the exam

[TheMinister]

Sorry. Read your original post wrong.

[soveryapt]

It will work ;-), I've done it before!

 

Test it beforehand though, you could even install it onto one of the invigilators machines and they can watch everyones screens during the exam

 

Indeedy .. is AB Tutor the one that does Mac and Windows machines (the crisis now is just PC machines, but we have a couple of Macs so I might as well look to get something that covers all of the schools devices .. lol ..)

[soveryapt]

Sorry. Read your original post wrong.

 

That's ok .. I'm just glad of the response .. I do it all the time, you misread one or two words and it changes the whole issue ..

[Dom_]

Indeedy .. is AB Tutor the one that does Mac and Windows machines (the crisis now is just PC machines, but we have a couple of Macs so I might as well look to get something that covers all of the schools devices .. lol ..)

 

Not yet unfortunately:

 

"AB Tutor Control Mac Client will be out for beta testing in the very short future."

 

Classroom Management Software - Review

[soveryapt]

Indeedy .. is AB Tutor the one that does Mac and Windows machines (the crisis now is just PC machines, but we have a couple of Macs so I might as well look to get something that covers all of the schools devices .. lol ..)

 

I think it's LanSchool I'm thinking of ..

[soveryapt]

Anyone used SMART Sync before? We have SMART Notebook software in the school and SMART Boards for our IWBs (sorry to the Promethean guys on here! lol) and I just wondered if there are any thoughts. They offer a 30-day free trial too so I might download it and see if it does what we want, but they also support Mac as well as PC (as does LanSchool) but the SMART Product seems a bit easier to make sense of.

[Duke5A]

This was probably the biggest advantage from setting up our own internal proxy in that it allows us to control outgoing traffic with ease (logging by AD name is also nice). A couple of lines worth of config in Squid and we've got filtering based on AD group membership. The same could also be done with ISA if Windows is your choice.

 

Kids are crafty though. In our district they're limited users and we've got them locked down as far as we can before the computers would be rendered useless in terms of usability. They come in with portable versions of Firefox on USB sticks, use anonymous proxy websites that our content filter seems to miss, and I've even seen software that the students can run on the local machine that doesn't require admin privileges that will bypass system proxy settings in IE. When it came time for online ACT testing we had to ensure the kids could use the PC, but have no access to the Net. If even one student slipped through, the entire room's test scores would be invalidated and the testing board would come down on us. So we logged the machines in the night before to cache the account credentials and that morning I pulled power from the IDF.

 

Good luck!

[soveryapt]

Indeed .. I'd be pulling cables if it wasn't for that initial 15 mins of access required and the fact that our email system is web based so they need access to that throughout the exam! Fun times! :/

[mats]

Anyone used SMART Sync before?

 

We have the 2009 version and it's a crashy, inconsistent PITA. I hate it and would gladly swap it for any other classsroom mgmt app. It's awkward to setup and requires keys to be activated for reinstalls - even on the same machine. The website is a bear to find support on - and what you do find often doesn't answer your question. Not much on google search either. You have to call an 0845 number to talk to their distributor. To be fair, they can be quite helpful. Otherwise - AVOID AVOID AVOID!

[sonofsanta]

LanSchool have a trial and can definitely block internet access except for whitelisted sites. The only limitation of the trial is you can't split rooms off into their own channels, but that's not a problem if it's all in one room. The full software is nice as well

 

I imagine your internet access requires going through the proxy? Otherwise I would suggest the fake proxy as mentioned earlier, and list the OWA address as a proxy exception.

[Duke5A]

Indeed .. I'd be pulling cables if it wasn't for that initial 15 mins of access required and the fact that our email system is web based so they need access to that throughout the exam! Fun times! :/

 

One more idea.... The lab that in question, do the machines use a block of addresses that are easily segregated from the rest of the site? You could create an ACL at your firewall that will only allow all outbound traffic from the addresses that the lab is using to go to the LEA's OWA server. I really can't think of a way a student would be able to bypass that without changing their address our bouncing off of another machine inside your LAN.

 

Good luck!

[Guest TheLibrarian]

We have LANSchool here, it will do exactly what you need and definitely does have a Mac client.

 

IIRC it was very cheap (for what it does) too.

[bwestlake]

have you concidered impero?

[soveryapt]

have you concidered impero?

 

ooo .. no I hadn't .. will take a look ..

[Admiral208]

I believe the exam in question is the Functional Skills exams? is that correct?

 

We have the same issues here but we give them access to outlook express so they can go through the process of creating an email, inputting the data into the to/cc/bcc fields, the only thing they cant do is actually send the email which they don't need to do anyway. All they have to do is a screen shot.

 

As for the internet access, we use schoolvue but you can any one of the many pieces of classroom monitoring software that will block the internet from a teacher station after 15 mins.

 

James

[soveryapt]

I believe the exam in question is the Functional Skills exams? is that correct?

 

We have the same issues here but we give them access to outlook express so they can go through the process of creating an email, inputting the data into the to/cc/bcc fields, the only thing they cant do is actually send the email which they don't need to do anyway. All they have to do is a screen shot.

 

As for the internet access, we use schoolvue but you can any one of the many pieces of classroom monitoring software that will block the internet from a teacher station after 15 mins.

 

James

 

How did you guess?

 

Yeah, they've been taught how to use OWA and we're a specialist school, some with learning difficulties, so to swap out for another program just for the exam would be owchy ..

 

Looking at Impero today (they're going to do a demo install for me) which seems to cover all the bases I'm wanting ..

[soveryapt]

I Impero!

 

Just had the install Demo (found out my firewall policies beed a bit of attention .. but hey .. lol) .. but it's a great piece of software .. does all I can see I would need and then some .. now to await their quote through to me and to go with my begging bowl to the Head .. lol ..